


Pastries and Chaos

by himekawas_soup



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou Fluff, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Established Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Established Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Established Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Everyone Is Gay, F/M, Fluff, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma Friendship, M/M, Minor Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himekawas_soup/pseuds/himekawas_soup
Summary: Yamaguchi decides to work at a bakery one day and makes new friends :) We get to see a lot of BokuAka and IwaOi, KenHina being soft best friends, Hinata falling for his barista Kageyama, HanaMatsu being dorks, KuroKen roommates, Tsukkiyama basically struggling to stay afloat cause it's so hard to write, and just so much... There will be more characters added along the way. I actually can't even write a proper summary for this fic, there's just so much going on.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Help! :) This is my first time writing a fic and I don't read a lot of fics either, so that's like, inexperience². Please forgive me :'0 I hope you enjoy and if you'd like, please let us know of any feedback or suggestions!

One step into the bakery, and the air was already different. It wasn't an overwhelmingly strong scent, but it wasn't something that was unnoticed either. It was pleasant and sweet and reminded Yamaguchi of soft taro bread.

In a small square of sunlight reflected through the large windows laid a gorgeous cat whose white fur contrasted against the deep color of the wooden floor. The tiny specks of black and gold that peppered the cat’s back seemed to glitter in the sun. Yamaguchi wanted to pet it but didn’t want to disturb the sleeping thing.

“You can pet her! She’s a bit rowdy but she’s friendly!” A bright voice called out and startled Yamaguchi a little bit.

Yamaguchi turned to see where the voice came from. A chipper redhead was behind the counter doodling something on a chalkboard menu. Even on the stepladder he had to tiptoe a bit to reach.

Yamaguchi bent down to get closer to the calico. Her nose twitched a few times as he gently pet her with the back of his hand. Her fur was soft and warm from the sun.

As Yamaguchi was petting her, something caught his eye. In the shadowy corner of the room he saw a dark figure swishing back and forth. Yamaguchi squinted and recognized what it was now. A little black brooding cat was laying there swishing his tail menacingly, with his eyes glued to Yamaguchi.

_*GASP*_

Yamaguchi heard the hasty kick of the metal step ladder echo through the quiet bakery and nearly jumped. “I didn’t even see him here!” The only other person in the bakery excitedly ran over to the black cat. His hair looked an almost cartoonish shade of orange when it was in the sunlight.

The black cat seemed to calm down immediately in his presence.

Ahhh... this was nice. The guy next to him is the kind of person that isn’t uncomfortable to be in silence with. The two of them were just happily petting the cats on an early Saturday morning in a peaceful bakery. At this point, Yamaguchi realised that this person must not work here, as he was wearing casual clothing, not a uniform.

Yamaguchi wondered if he should make small talk or not. After all, this person seems really nice and friendly. Yes, okay, he was going to do it. Uhhh… how should he start though...

Yamaguchi finds that he doesn’t have to think about how to start the conversation, because the guy next to him started first.

“I’m Hinata Shouyou by the way.” He stuck out his non petting hand towards Yamaguchi, so that he didn’t give a hairy handshake. “What are you doing here so early? The store hasn’t even opened yet.”

“It... hasn’t? I’m sorry; I had no idea. I came here to turn in my application to work here.” Gosh, he just came here without checking the time? “Um, how about you? I’m guessing that you don’t work here either because of your clothes? Oh, did that sound too accusatory? I’m sorry!” Yamaguchi was rambling.

“I don’t work here but I’m friends with the employees here. Actually, I’m here to bug one of them.” Hinata’s face morphed into one of playful mischief.

As if on cue, the sound of a door somewhere in the back of the store opened. Yamaguchi could hear two murmuring voices and then a pause.

“Shouyou… is that you?” A quiet voice spoke but Yamaguchi saw no one.

“Kenmaaa!” Hinata called as he ran in the direction of the voice. Just then, a dark haired man walked out from the back but Hinata ran past him. Yamaguchi guesses that the person Hinata was calling to was not this person.

“Oh hello!” Yamaguchi said to the man walking behind the counter as he scrambled to get his application papers off the ground. “I’m here to submit my application?”

Just as he took a step forward, Hinata rushed out, dragging a long haired person by the sleeve who looked like they had trouble keeping up with Hinata’s excitement.

“Yachi taught me how to make our menus look nicer! What do you think, Kenma?” Hinata beamed at the other.

Yamaguchi looked up at the chalkboard menu. He was impressed with how appealing someone could make tomato soup sound with just interesting lettering and embellishments.

“I like it.” Kenma said simply but considerately. He then noticed the unfamiliar stranger in the bakery and suddenly became very focused on adjusting his sleeves.

Hinata looked over to Yamaguchi. “Oh right! You’re going to be working here right? This is Kenma and Akaashi.” Hinata pointed at the two people respectively. “Suga’s the manager but here’s not here right now.”

“I can take your application though.” Akaashi said, holding his hand out.

Yamaguchi walked up to the counter and handed in the papers. “Ah, I’m not exactly sure.” He said in response to Hinata. “There are some other places I am looking to apply for that are closer to me.”

Hinata looked as if he deflated a bit for just a split second. Then he perked right back up. “Well I hope to see you working here anyways! TI-84 Plus let you pet S’mores without pouncing at you!”

“Really?” Kenma looked up at Hinata, then at Yamaguchi curiously. Yamaguchi was surprised too. Maybe that cat really would have pounced on him if Hinata hadn’t drawn its attention when he did.

Hang on a second. “TI-84 Plus?” Yamaguchi asked amusingly. 

“Yup, these cats are Kenma’s,” replied Hinata. “This one’s TI-84 Plus… ” He pointed at the black cat. “... and this one is S’mores!” he said, pointing to the calico.

“My roommate was the one who named TI-84.” Kenma pointed out hesitantly.

“Did they just look around the room and picked the first thing they saw?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Actually, it’s kinda the opposite. Kenma lost TI-84 the first night he brought him home. It was also right before finals week and Kenma couldn’t find his calculator anywhere.” Hinata recalled. 

“Turns out, I eventually found both of them with my roommate. He thought it was funny so he chose the name based off of that.” Kenma said, shrugging at the end.

“You got a cat during finals week?” Yamaguchi wondered.

“We rescued it, so it wasn’t planned.”

“Ah I see.” Yamaguchi felt the conversation coming to a close. “Well, I really like this place. It’s a nice environment to be in.” He said as he stroked the underside of S’more’s chin.

Yamaguchi gave one last pat pat to S’mores and said goodbye to the others. Maybe he would be willing to travel an extra 10 minutes to work in this bakery rather than at the cafe that was on the way to his school. But he wasn’t sure.

As he walked out, he took out his phone. There was one person that he relied on to give him some rational insight.

Yamaguchi heard the familiar sound that told him his call connected. “Tsukki!” He sang happily into the phone.

“Yamaguchi, do you need anything?” Normally Yamaguchi doesn’t call Tsukki. If he wanted to talk, he would just go over to talk in person.

“I just finished submitting the last application I have.”

“That’s good.” Tsukki said as he yawned into the phone. It’s probably a bit early still.

“I need your help. I don’t know which place I want to work at.”

“Well, which place has better pay?”

“I… don’t know actually.” 

Yamaguchi could almost hear Tsukki making the 눈_눈 face, disapproving of him not thinking this through a little more.

Yamaguchi knew that Tsukki would be lecturing him right now, but he isn’t because he knows Yamaguchi already understands. Also Tsukki doesn’t like to waste his energy.

 _You have to think about things like this a little more._ Ah yes, _‘be more rational and decisive and practical’. Why would you work somewhere farther away if it didn’t have any other benefits?_ But I liked the cats. _Are you willing to sacrifice time commuting just for cats?_ :( 

Yamaguchi knows Tsukki and knows that sometimes being too thoughtless can be irritating to him. Though Tsukki is patient with Yamaguchi and often doesn’t show that he’s irritated. He decided to not tell Tsukki every little detail of his irrational shenanigans.

Yamaguchi was still indecisive, going back and forth in his mind about working at either place. He then had the thought that he should organize his thoughts on paper.

As he was about to start scribbling a messy list of pros and cons, the sound of his phone interrupted him.

Yamaguchi picked up. There was an unusually long silence for the person that actually made the call. Finally, the other end spoke up.

“Umm this is Kenma. Our manager says you can come in before or after work for training starting next week.”

Yamaguchi waited to see if there was more but Kenma didn’t say anything else. “Oh uh thank you! For letting me know.” Yamaguchi barely had a full breath after saying this before the other end quickly hung up.

Yamaguchi looked over at the paper and pencil he got out. He really didn’t feel like going through the draining process of being indecisive. Alright then, bakery it is.

***

“So this is our new applicant!” A silver haired man said with a pleasant smile. His friendliness and warmth put Yamaguchi at ease.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi. I’m the manager here, but I also stop by the bakeries at the other locations to check up on them, so I’m not always here.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sugawara-san!” Yamaguchi said as he gave a small bow. He looked around the bakery. Akaashi was setting up the glass display and preparing the counter area for another day of work.

“Let me introduce you to your coworkers and show you around. This is Akaashi Keiji, who works on the register and in the kitchen. He also keeps us organized. He’s basically the manager when I’m not around.” Yamaguchi followed Suga towards the kitchen in the back.

“In the kitchen we have Kozume Kenma.” There was only Kenma in the kitchen who was adding some garnishes on some small apple pastries.

Across the kitchen was a small open room with a door leading to the outside alley. “Bokuto Koutarou handles the shipments and deliveries we get and also works with Akaashi on register.” There was a large truck with a man unloading some shipments. He was too busy stacking boxes to notice the two.

They went back inside to the front of the bakery. “Ah! And here we have Kageyama Tobio, who makes the drinks.” A calm looking man was replacing a component in one of the machines. Though, as he was focused on his task, his face easily scrunched up into what looked like mild irritation or frustration.

“Do you see why I don’t put Kageyama on cashier?” Suga lowered his voice and said this quietly to Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi chuckled. Kageyama was completely oblivious.

“Rather than try to make Kageyama try to force a pleasant smile and do something outside of his comfort zone, I just work around these things. He doesn’t have to worry or stress over presenting himself in a way that he’s expected to.” Suga made finger quotes as he said this. “I want to make things easier for people.”

Yamaguchi looked to Sugawara. At that moment, the room seemed to gain a heavenly atmosphere for a split second. Yamaguchi could almost hear the strumming of a harp in the distance. “Wow… that’s very respectable.” Yamaguchi admired.

Suga’s voice returned back to a normal volume. “Bokuto and Akaashi can help you get started with how things work around here and help you with register. Eventually Kageyama can help you with making the drinks once you are more familiar with how things work.”

“Thank you!” He gave another small bow. As lifted his head back up, he heard the sound of a heavy door in the back opening. Yamaguchi stared down the hallway to see who it was. Suga turned around to follow Yamaguchi’s gaze. A man with white and grey hair popped out into the hallway, rubbing his shoes on the door mat.It sort of reminds Yamaguchi of Oreos.

“Good morning Bokuto!” Suga called out. Bokuto looked up and waved. “Mornin’ Suga!” He said and walked up to the two. “Oh oh! Who’s this?”

“Bokuto calm down.” Akaashi whacked the side of his head with a rolled up newspaper that was conveniently in his hands from going to change the newspaper and magazine rack.

“But Akaaaashi! I haven’t even said anything yet!” Akaashi looked apologetic for acting instinctively.

“Besides!” Bokuto said, rubbing the spot he was whacked. “We haven’t had anyone new work here in like forever!”

Akaashi narrowed his eyes at him. Does… does he not remember that guy from only 3 months ago? Akaashi was questioning whether he should scold him or let it go. He sure had the urge to tell Bokuto off.

Suga simply chuckled lightly at this interaction. Yamaguchi guessed that this was a normal affair for them.

“Now now, Akaashi.” Suga said as he patted Akaashi on the back reassuringly, as if he could read his mind. He then turned to Bokuto. “This is Yamaguchi Tadashi.” He gestured towards Yamaguchi. “He will be working the register and drinks, so I expect you to help him the best you can!”

“Um hello! Nice to meet you.” Yamaguchi said politely.

Suga continued to explain more about how everything works. When it came time for the bakery to open, Yamaguchi observed Suga as he worked at the register for a little while.

***

“So, how was your first day?” Tsukki asked him, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.

“It was interesting! I like the people I’m working with so far. And the environment is really lively with this one guy Bokuto.”

Tsukki smiled. “That’s good.”

“Oh and cats.” Yamaguchi added. “One of the cat’s names was TI-84 Plus.” Yamaguchi was reminded of the amusing backstory behind the name and retold it to Tsukki. Then something then crossed Yamaguchi’s mind. _Now that I have this job, maybe I can save up to get something for Tsukki’s birthday. It’s in three weeks, which isn’t a lot of time though._

“Interesting environment for a bakery.” Tsukki commented. _Oh right, Yamaguchi was working at a bakery now. Maybe he can do something pastry related._

“Oh! How’s working at the museum?” Yamaguchi asked, directing the conversation to Tsukki.

“I met this one historian who works there and we talked about the new ancient Greek history and mythology exhibit.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I’ve been meaning to read Percy Jackson lately.”

“I love Percy Jackson.” Tsukki reminisced.

“I always hear you talk about it. You know what, I’m finally going to read it and then we can talk about it!” 

“That’s what everyone says but they never end up doing it.”

“Oh yeah, well I’m going to prove you wrong.”

Tsukki simply smiled at this. Is he not fully convinced that Yamaguchi is going to do it?

“In fact, I’m going to pull up the book right now and read the first chapter. Out loud. To you.” Yamaguchi said as he got out his phone and bought the e-book.

“Alright.” Tsukki said, leaning back against the couch as he hugs one of the pillows to his stomach. Did his response sound more excited than usual? Definitely, and he was trying to hide it. 

The two of them ended up reading a bit more than a single chapter, with Tsukki encouraging Yamaguchi to keep going to get to a certain part of the book. 

Eventually, after a few hours, Yamaguchi left with nearly a fifth of the first book finished. His throat was sore from reading out loud for so long, but he wasn’t complaining. As he walked home the thought of Tsukki’s birthday came back again. Maybe he’ll try his hand at baking one of Tsukki’s favorite foods, strawberry shortcake.

“Yes!” Yamaguchi said to himself excitedly. He took one last look at the golden rays of the setting sun before stepping into his house to rest after a long day.


	2. Tearing Down Walls

Hinata swung by the bakery one afternoon on his trusty bike. The hanging doorbell softly chimed as he opened the door and stepped in. Yamaguchi looked up when he heard the sound and smiled when he saw who it was.

“Hinata!” Yamaguchi greeted him with a wave.

“You’re working here!” Hinata said excitedly. “Oh…” his face dropped. “I don’t think I actually got your name when we met.” 

Oh wow did Yamaguchi forget to do that? He remembered that he was just babbling nonsense that day.

“I must’ve gotten distracted, sorry. It’s Yamaguchi Tadashi.” he informed. “Do you visit often?”

“I come here sometimes after my last class to do my homework. I like working with Kenma around.” Hinata pulled out a chair from a table close to the counter and placed his bag on it so he could get his stuff out.

The last few customers left the bakery not long after, leaving the bakery empty. Kenma saw this and went to the breakroom in the back to get his school stuff. Yamaguchi would later learn that this is around the time where the bakery gets routinely less busy each day. 

***

“Shouyou, did you hear what I said?” Kenma poked Hinata’s forehead with the eraser side of his pencil. Kenma is used to people not catching his words. Normally he doesn’t care, but Hinata was just staring off into space like 5 times in the past 30 minutes. 

“Oh, sorry. Yeah I heard you.” Hinata said as he shook his head to readjust his focus. Despite this, his mind still appeared to be somewhere else. 

“You look a little distracted.” Kenma commented, noticing some mistakes on Shouyou’s paper: “boing” instead of boiling, some flipped statements like, the powerhouse is the mitochondria of the cell, and a-- did he just try to say that two is an odd number?

“Hmm yeah there is something on my mind.” Hinata said as he laid his head tiredly on his arms. Kenma pushed the schoolwork a little bit to the side, as if to agree that they should take a break from it for a bit.

Kenma looked at him and thought for a second. “Is this about Kageyama?” he asked. Hinata felt his face heat up. He quickly looked up to scan the counter for him, eyes darting back and forth, even though he knew Kageyama was off his shift. He then sighed, and nodded.

“What do you think I should do?” Hinata asked.

“If you’re asking me for advice…” Kenma started, but he didn’t finish his thought. Hinata already knows what he meant. _If you’re asking me for advice, then you must have it pretty bad._

“But you’re my best friend!” Hinata protested. “And you also work with him, so you know what he’s like.”

“Not really… I don’t really talk to him and he doesn’t really talk much either.”

Hinata shifted his head to bury it in between his arms on the table.

“Hm… you should just go for it. Maybe it’s better to just try talking to him.” Kenma reached for an eraser to correct some of Hinata’s errors.

“But I don’t even get chances to talk to him!” His voice came out muffled. “He doesn’t interact with the actual customers.” Kageyama doesn’t really have to take orders when Akaashi and Bokuto are around. And with Yamaguchi, that’s probably going to be even less of a possibility. 

_Wait a second… Yamaguchi!_ Hinata thought, lifting his head up now. _If I can’t find out more about him through Kenma, maybe Yamaguchi can help me._

“Hey Yamaguchi!” Hinata called, energy returning in his voice at the prospect of this new idea.

Yamaguchi looked up to see Hinata gesturing him over. He propped the tray of containers on a nearby counter, and walked over. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

“How much do you know about Kageyama?”

“Kageyama?” Yamaguchi was somewhat confused about the question. “Uhhh not much. I haven’t really talked to him before? But I’m going to get training from him soon.”

“Perfect! Then that’s the prime time to talk to him! Strike up a conversation! Get to know him better!”

“You think he’ll wanna make small talk? He kinda seems like the no-nonsense kind of guy.” Yamaguchi asked concerningly, as if imagining Kageyama snapping at him for being off task. “What’s this for?”

Hinata shifted a little bit uncomfortably. “He just seems so… interesting! And really cool! I wanna be friends with him and get to know him more.” Hinata said, now looking down away from Yamaguchi. Kageyama really interested Hinata. He seems to keep to himself and doesn’t really catch the attention of other people, but that’s not the case for Hinata. Hinata can’t help but notice him, the way that he scrunches up his face when he made a mistake, the way each cup of hot chocolate or coffee he gets is always consistent and precise, the exact amount of marshmallows or whipped cream to compliment the drink.

“The problem is that Shouyou doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to just talk to him.” Kenma said, snapping Hinata back to reality.

“Which is why I need your help, Yamaguchi.”

“How can I help?” Yamaguchi asked in an unsure tone.

“I need to find out more about him, and also a way to talk to him.”

Yamaguchi nodded in agreement. _Wow,_ he thought. If he were in his situation, he would probably think he would have no chance. Not knowing a lot about Kageyama and not being in a setting where he could talk to him? Yamaguchi would probably give up. But Hinata seems like the type of person who doesn’t have “give up” in his vocabulary.

Yamaguchi agreed to pay attention to Kageyama for Hinata and see what kind of person he is. Then three of them resumed what they were doing before, though Hinata was slow to get back into his schoolwork. It was hard to work when his mind was occupied by something else.

***

“Oh Hinata, are you leaving soon?” Bokuto called out.

“Yeah I think I’m done for the day.” Hinata said as he stretched his back and closed his laptop. Kenma was back to work, preparing a custom ice cream cake order for tomorrow. 

“Do you wanna come with me to take the cats to the vet?” Bokuto asked, wiggling S’mores in front of Hinata’s face as if to persuade him to come along.

“Sure! Is there something wrong with them?” Hinata asked, scratching S’mores behind the ears. S’mores enjoyed the petting, but disliked being so high off the ground, so she gently leapt out of Bokuto’s grasp.

“No, but it’s important for them to get checkups because they interact with the customers. We don’t want to be sued.” Akaashi informed them. He then stopped sweeping and looked up at the two. “You two better hurry before it gets too late.” He added.

Hinata looked over at Kenma, quietly applying chocolate shavings to the side of the cake. He knew that Kenma would probably not like the idea of having to wait for them to come back so he could take the cats home.

“We’ll take the cats back, Kenma?” Hinata asked as he leaned over to put his laptop in his bag. Bokuto was scooping the cats back up to be placed in the carrying baskets.

Kenma looked up and nodded appreciatively.

And with that, they left the bakery, Hinata walking with his bike in hand, and Bokuto holding the carrying basket for the cats.

*

“Isn’t that exciting?” Sugawara asked over the phone. “Yes.” Akaashi agreed. The idea of the bakery incorporating a bookstore seemed like an excellent addition to create a unique and relaxing environment. Many customers already come to the bakery to read or write, so this addition made sense.

“Bokuto’s already taking care of some of the unloading. Could you ask anyone else willing to help, since I know you won’t have time to do it?” 

“Sure.” He replied. Immediately, he was thinking of possible candidates for this task. “Great, thanks for your help!” Sugawara said, and Akaashi ended the call. He then turned to Kenma to notify him about the new changes.

“Sugawara is looking for volunteers for the renovation. Would you be willing to help unload some of the items for the bookstore?”

Kenma already had a basic understanding of what Akaashi was going to say before he asked from listening to the phone conversation. In his mind, he was already preparing an excuse to get out of doing the work, when he suddenly developed a thought. The gears in Kenma’s head were turning. If Kageyama and Shouyou were helping out with setting up the new bookstore addition, then they could talk to each other. And almost as importantly, he wouldn’t have to work.

“I don’t think that Yamaguchi should do it since he’s new.” Akaashi continued.

“I think Kageyama should do it.” Kenma said firmly, trying not to sound like he’s purposely avoiding work. _He’s probably thinking exactly that, because that is something I’d definitely do._ But Akaashi simply nodded and made no further comment, returning to his work.

Kenma took out his phone and began to write to Shouyou. Of course, he’d rather just tell him the news when they would see each other later, but Kenma knows that this is something Shouyou would like to know as soon as possible, learning from past incidents. _“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”_ Hinata would say. _“You never asked.”_ was all that Kenma could think to say back.

*

“Well everything looks good so far.” Hirugami said as he logged the information on the cats into the computer.

Inuoka walked by the room before stopping to poke his head in. “Hey Bokuto! How’s the project coming along?”

Hinata looked at Bokuto. “Ooh, what project?” He asked curiously.

“I’m making a powerpoint presentation for Akaashi about why we should get a puppy.”

“Ooh how is it? Akaashi’s definitely going to be impressed if you do that!” Hinata encouraged.

“Right? I’m thinking he’ll be super taken aback that I’m putting in all this effort. I wanna surprise him.” Bokuto lifted the cats from the table to place them back into the basket. “Hirugami is helping me learn about puppy care but it’s hard to pay attention! He always makes it complicated and uses big words.” Bokuto pouted.

“It’s good practice for me as a vet student.” Hirugami shrugged.

“Maybe you should give him some more practical information, Hirugami-san.” Inuoka suggested with a chuckle. “You’ve gotta show me it when you’re done with it. I want to see how many mistakes you make.” he said jokingly.

“I would be willing to help correct it for you.” Hirugami offered.

Bokuto grumbled some sort of weak remark to Inuoka, being caught off guard by Hirugami’s words and thanking him.

With a zip of the mesh basket, the cats were tucked away, ready for a safe trip back home. Bokuto and Hinata said goodbye, and as the two of them were walking out of the office, Hinata pulled out his phone and saw there was a text from Kenma.

_Akaashi’s asking for people to help with renovations at the bakery. You and Kageyama should do it._

“Oh Bokuto, is there something going on at the bakery? Kenma’s saying there’s renovations happening?” Hinata asked as he slipped his phone back into his pocket so he could put the cats into his bike basket.

“You haven’t heard? You know that empty building next door? They’re going to turn it into a little bookstore and connect it to the bakery.”

“Woah! I knew they were doing construction over there, but I didn’t know it was going to be connected to the bakery! How do you think they’re going to connect it? Will they tear down the wall?” 

“I didn’t think about that! They are going to have to open the space up somehow.”

“Maybe it’ll be like that movie Hidden Figures, where the guy uses a hammer to open up the wall to fit a machine into the room.”

“I remember that movie! I saw it with Oikawa and Kuroo. Oikawa was the one that suggested it, and Kuroo also wanted to see it because it was all mathy and sciencey. Oh! And speaking of Kuroo, look!” Bokuto ran to a closed store, with Hinata following him the best he could without jostling the cats too much. When we reached the store, Hinata tried to peer inside to see what this store was.

“It’s dark right? In the daytime it’s also like that too! It’s really weird and that’s why Kuroo and I stuck our faces to the windows, so we could see what this weird glass was. We were making weird faces and then we decided to go inside, and that’s when we realized there was a guy there and he could see everything we were doing.”

Hinata laughed at his story. “What happened next?” Hinata asked amusingly, reading the posters hanging on the outside. “What is this place anyways?”

“I think it’s a smoothie shop. After we walked in, Kuroo awkwardly bought some sort of green drink and then we ran. Cause we couldn’t just walk in and immediately walk out.”

TI-84 Plus meowed tiredly, as if to remind them of what they were supposed to be doing.

“You’re right TI-84, TO KUROO’S!” Bokuto commanded, leading the way. Hinata followed behind him, pushing his bicycle along.

***

When the two of them got to the door, Bokuto pulled out the spare keys he had and unlocked the door. The inside of the apartment was dark, except for a faint light coming from the living room that was pouring into the hallway.

On the far side of the couch, Kuroo was sitting underneath a lamp working on his laptop. Kenma was on his phone, sitting on the ground in between the couch and the coffee table, which had papers scattered all over and a closed laptop above the mess.

“Guess where we stopped by on our way here.” Bokuto announced to Kuroo as Hinata bent down to open the basket.

Kuroo looked up from his screen. “You didn’t go by that cursed playground did you? I have an exam coming up and I can’t have spirit children eat up my precious brain the night before.” Kuroo remarked. There were a pair of thin reading glasses on his face.

S’mores hopped out and sauntered off to another room. TI-84 Plus stepped over to Kenma and curled up in his lap.

“Will they really leave the playground? I made Christmas cookies in the shape of stockings once and we didn’t have enough red food coloring, so Akaashi said they looked like brains. I left them out and in the morning, there were chunks bitten out of them! Do you think the spirit children ate my cookies?”

“That’s ridiculous, you probably slept walk and ate them while unconscious or something.”

“I don’t sleepwalk! If I did I would know!”

“How would you know? You’re asleep.”

“...Akaashi would tell me.”

“Hm true. What if Akaashi sleepwalks too?”

“He’d probably know if he did!”

“How would he know? He’s asleep.”

Kenma already stopped paying attention to the discussion right when Bokuto said “guess”. Instead, he and Hinata were having their own separate conversation.

“I don’t think I ever see you really doing schoolwork and yet you’re doing way better than me. How do you get it all done?” Hinata wondered.

“Eh…” Kenma dismissed. “I procrastinate a lot too.” 

“I feel like I ask you this a million times and I still don’t know the answer.” Hinata lamented a little.

Kuroo glanced at the time in the corner of his computer screen. “You guys wanna stay and play something?” He pushed the glasses off his face and set them on top of Kenma’s closed computer.

“We should play Sorry!” Bokuto chided.

“Oh, how about Uno!” Hinata suggested.

“Uno! That’s a great idea Hinata!” Bokuto agreed. “I’ve been watching a lot of Markiplier’s Uno videos and it’s making me really wanna play!”

“Do you watch him?” Kenma asked. Bokuto waved his hand in dismissal. “Nah. Akaashi has been playing his Uno videos a lot though. He says it’s ‘good background noise.’ I end up watching it and it’s so entertaining. I can quote large chunks of the videos!”

Kuroo frowned “We literally have video games and you guys choose board games?” then he paused to consider. “I do like Monopoly... but that’s kind of a really long game.”

Kenma quietly pulled out a deck of cards from the storage area under the coffee table and placed it on top of the papers. Except, this wasn’t a normal deck of cards.

_Cards against humanity_

“Ooh, now that’s more my taste.” Kuroo grew a fiercely competitive grin.

“How do you play?” Hinata and Bokuto asked at the same time.

“Oh but these aren’t functional.” Kenma said as he shook the silent card box, indicating it was empty.

“That’s alright, maybe another time.” Hinata said.

“What happened to the cards anyways?” Bokuto asked.

“Kuroo left them in his pockets and then he did the laundry.” 

“No, don't listen to him, it was S’mores. He got to ‘em.” Kuroo denied.

“You didn’t even know that the box was empty until just now. Which just proves that you forgot about them.”

“Ack, you got me there.”

Instead, the four of them played Hearts with regular playing cards. Bokuto has never played before, so Kenma taught him, and grew annoyed when Bokuto shot the moon without him realizing it. Not even Bokuto knew what he did. Beginner’s luck.

After a few games, Bokuto and Hinata said goodbye to everyone, and Hinata rode back home. The streets were quiet and mostly empty, but not scary, as this was an area he was very familiar with, and felt like home. The cool air felt refreshing as it hit his skin, though it gave him a little more of a bite than yesterday. The weather is starting to get colder, and Hinata realizes he has to break out the fall and winter clothes.

The thought of finally getting a chance to talk to Kageyama entered his mind, and Hinata found himself planning what he would do during that day, finally being able to see those talented and meticulous hands that put so much care into each drink crafted, up close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm not planning on not finishing this, I assure you. Even if this entire thing is flaming garbage, I will see through to the end. Please let me know your thoughts, comments, and critiques!

**Author's Note:**

> Let's talk about Haikyuu together! https://himekawas-soup.tumblr.com/


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